Thanks matthew, I always like to hear of a recommendation or two. I read just the first few pages before I purchased it, and the intro by the author intrigued me enough to pick up the book. I read that it is based on a true town in England during the year of 1666 that tried quarantining itself from the outside world. I believe 2/3 of the people there died anyway. I will let everyone know how that works out.
I again recommend the book "The Worst Hard Time" by Egan, about the dustbowl of the 1930s. It is a pretty frightening account of what happens when we let the idea of chasing the almighty dollar guide what we do instead of common sense. One factoid: the railroad brochures that were distributed to get people interested in settling into these areas ( the northern Texas panhandle, Oklahoma panhandle, southeast Colorado) was by telling them that breaking up the prairie sod, in place for 20-30 thousand years, would bring the rain. Instead of course, it loosened the soil to become airborne. On one day in 1953, TWICE the amount of soil as was removed from the Panama Canal dig was lifted in the air and blew straight east. And nobody knew what to make of that.
__________________ "Live in the world you inhabit. Look upon things as they are. Take them as you find them. Make the best of them. Turn them to your advantage." - R. E. Lee
Recently read some aviation books including Douglas Brickhill (sp), "Reach For the Sky," the story of RAF legless pilot Douglas Bader. Also read Joe Foss's autobiography, "Joe Foss, American," (or something like that). Joe Foss is the Marine pilot who downed 26 Japanese planes over Guadacanal and earned for himself a Medal of Honor. He was later stopped by TSA for carrying a "shiriken" and he had to tell those dufuses that it was a Medal of Honor and not some sinister weapon (c'mon, the "points" of the star have round lobes on them). On the same flight (to Indianapolis) I read, "Wake Island Pilot." It's the story of a Marine pilot who is captured at Wake Island and his survival in a Japanese PoW camp in China, his escape, his meeting with the Chinese Communists and delivery to the Nationalist Chinese where he finally hooked up with U.S. soldiers). Last week I read Gary Moore's, "Playing With The Enemy." It's the story of a baseball prodigy destined to join the Dodgers but WW II intervenes. I wrote it up on Amazon.com. Oh, final non-Civil War book read is Ted Savas's, "A Guide to Battles of the American Revolution." That was also written up at Amazon.
Gary:
The Foss book was required reading when I went to grade-school. Interesting story (about all I can remember about it -- even Trice's memory can't hold up over that much time).
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
I've finished reading "Red Road From Stalingrad" by Mansur Abdulin. It is an excellent memoir of WWII written by a former Soviet enlisted man. Abdulin describes in detail the various actions he was in, and does not shy away from horrible stuff such as capturing a German hospital, and eliminating the wounded there. He describes earning his first medal by being the first soldier in his unit to snipe at a German and scoring a hit.
By far it is a very good book of life on the Eastern Front during WWII.
I'm re-reading "Starship Troopers" by Robert Heinlein. It's a classic scifi writen about war and soldiering in the 70th century. It also has great philosophical discussion about citizen responsibilty and the futility of political correctness. Before this I re-read the entire John Carter of Mars series by Edgar Rice Burroughs. While I usually read historical and scientific books, I find fantasy quite enjoyable. I go through them like popcorn. As Heinlein says, every sergeant from Rome to to the Romulan Empire has used the term. "Come on you apes. You want to live forever?"
Calicoboy
__________________ My dear mother:- I have come safely through two more terrible engagements with the enemy, that at South Mountain and the great battle of yesterday (Antietam). Our splendid regiment is almost destroyed. We have had nearly 400 men killed and wounded in the battles. Seven of our officers were shot and three killed in yesterday's battle and nearly 150 men killed and wounded. All from less than 300 engaged. The men have stood like iron....Maj. Rufus Dawes, 6th Wisconsin Volunteers
One of Boyington's Men by McClurg. McClurg was a fighter pilot in VMF 214 and eventually became an ace with 6 kills to his credit. The text blends in the combat reports and narratives for many of the missions flown by McClurg. Both their victories and losses are recorded as well as his observations of Pappy Boyington as a combat leader, a man, and a comrade.
A compilation of stories by different authors about men at war, from David vs. Goliath to Bataan, including "Oh, Bloody Shiloh", by Lloyd Lewis. Stories and accounts from Tolstoy, T.E. Lawrence, Victor Hugo, William Faulkner, Stephen Crane, Ernest Hemingway, among others. Published 1955. 1100 pages, edited and with an intro by Ernest Hemingway.
Terry
__________________ "In this great struggle, this form of Government and every form of human right is endangered if our enemies succeed. There is more involved in this contest than is realized by every one." Abraham Lincoln - August 18, 1864 Speech to the 164th Ohio Regiment
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